Help my friend please...

[brenda]

My friend has a 125 gallon tank...Yesterday they used some stuff called kill a snail and today their fish are in jeopordy. One being a 12" Rhino Pleco. She is doing massive water changes right now...Is there any other help anyone can offer? Does anyone know why this happened?

[Carl]

Water changes are certainly the best first step, make sure that pH and temp. are similar.

Carbon Filtration as well as resins such as Purigen are also strongly suggested.

What is the brand or more importantly the chemical make up of this product?

I too have seen this product with some snail-a-cides which is why I do not recommend removing snails this way (also often the problem is NOT the chemicals, rather the toxins released by massive snails die offs). Better is snail eaters, cucumbers, vacuuming, etc.

Carl

[brenda]

Thanks so much Carl...You're the BEST!!!!!

[brenda]

The snails are breeding in the filter..>Would cucumber work in there? Any suggestions for the filter? They are breeding in a cannister filter and clogging it up.

[Carl]

Yes, it MAY, especially if dark.

I have found that the snails will get on the cucumber slice generally when dark and leave when lights are on.

Carl

[bikeguy33]

if it isnt the snails going toxic, i would bet this drug has copper in it.

[Carl]

Dec 9, 2008 0:36:43 GMT -5 bikeguy33 said:

if it isnt the snails going toxic, i would bet this drug has copper in it.

That could be Bill, but not the formulas that have copper in them should not be a problem unless over dosed or the snail die itself is a problem. Most FW fish can tolerate copper well up to .25 ppm which products such as Aquarisol do not bring the copper up to when used correctly. The Medicated Wonder Shells have some copper, but at levels under .10 ppm (usually less than that, but this is the HIGHEST reading I ever got).
I guess what I am saying is that I have found persons to blame copper for fish die offs, when in fact there were other factors at play, such as the toxins released by snails or water parameters affected by their die off.

Aquarisol has been around for years and has a proven track record and is still one of the better treatments for shimmy and velvet.

Although the Medicated version of the Wonder Shell are my creation, I cannot claim credit for the formula that went into it. This is again a proven formula that Aquatronics used for two similar products: Wide Spectrum Tonic and Acriflavin Plus. Again proven formulas that safely used copper.
I simply changed it a little and added it to a timed delivery system that also buffered the MG and aided osmoregulation via minerals/electrolytes.

Additionally
My guess might be Trichlorfon if the treatment was the problem, as this is highly toxic to snails, killing them much more rapidly than copper and as well, Trichlorfon can be more toxic even to fish in more acidic conditions which is common in snail infested tanks and the die off will complicate this effect even more causing a "snow ball" effect or a more acidic environment resulting in increased toxicity of the Trichlorfon.
This is another reason that any snail treatment should include maintaining KH/pH.

Carl

[barbara]

By the way, Brenda's friend was me. I ended up doing a 75% water change to the tank, and instead of chemicals, I used a salt rinse in the filter, using dechlorinated water. This has taken care of the snail problem. I lost no fish out of this, luckily, as the plecos effected by this treatment belonged to my husband. He is considering a breeding project this summer with Rhino plecos, using an outdoor pond and a mudbank.

[murdock6701]

hopefully the snail kill killed off all the eggs as well.....they can lay dormant for a long time - trust me on that one - am dealing w/ snails right now! brand new tank in June, new filter, everything new! boiled the grave rocks and plastic plants - bought new fish from the pet store - all their tanks had live plants/snails - she must have netted eggs when she netted the fish because now I have snails - little tan pain in the butts! I hate snails! I had to dump 2 tanks last year due to an infestation, so I know your frustration

[barbara]

Well, what seemed to work was the salt treatment. I used a ton of aquarium salt, in with dechlorinated water, and treated my cannister filter with that. I made sure to rinse everything well after the salt, and it seems to have done the trick for me. Sure a lot healthier for my fish than the chemicals I tried at first. I used it at half strength too, but it was still too much for my plecos.